NCAA Football '11-'12

[jimmy olsen]

4 Team BCS playoff!

espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7858795/bcs-says-bids-include-4-team-playoffs-only

[Valmy]

Universities have gotten out of control.  Compare tuition increases to inflation some time.

I am not sure what that has to do with deep public funding cuts.  And these are the public schools, the ones that have been keeping their tuition low-ish for in-state kids (granted by law). 

[Valmy]

4 Team BCS playoff!

espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7858795/bcs-says-bids-include-4-team-playoffs-only

Hopefully this will mean the end of undefeated teams not being able to play for the national title.

[grumbler]

Hopefully this will mean the end of undefeated teams not being able to play for the national title.

  Don't be absurd.  There will be many undefeated teams that don't get ranked in the top 4, and rightfully so.  If merely being undefeated qualified a team for the playoffs, everyone would seek the easiest possible schedule so as to maximize the chances of qualifying.

Anyone who thinks that this will remain open to only four teams for more than two years is delusional.  My guess is that we will have a sixteen-team tournament before 2020 (and then your undefeateds will probably all be there).  That's why this system has to be set up well from the get-go.  The traditional bowls are going to have to be kept out of the playoff process, or they are going to fuck it up.

I really do think that Delaney's suggestion of having the first round of the playoffs at the stadiums of the higher seeds the week after conference championship games is the way to go.  You can't expect fans to travel for the CCG, then for the first-round playoff bowl, then the playoff championship bowl.  Look at what happened to the ACC championship game last year.

The arguments against the home game are pretty amusing, IMO.  They boil down to the claim that the college football playoffs cannot take place in college football stadiums because college football stadiums lack the infrastructure needed to put on college football games. 

[Valmy]

  Don't be absurd.  There will be many undefeated teams that don't get ranked in the top 4, and rightfully so.

Nothing rightful about a team finishing the year undefeated and not being national champion.  But we have always disagreed on this point.

But I totally agree with the rest of your post.  Home games for playoff games is the logical way to go.  Not sure if 16 teams will be the end game but if it is that would at least put the division formerly known as I-A where the rest of the divisions are.

[grumbler]

Nothing rightful about a team finishing the year undefeated and not being national champion.  But we have always disagreed on this point.

I am not sure what "rightful" means here, but you are correct that we disagree.  I think that the best team should be the champion.

But I totally agree with the rest of your post.  Home games for playoff games is the logical way to go.  Not sure if 16 teams will be the end game but if it is that would at least put the division formerly known as I-A where the rest of the divisions are.

I am curious to see if D-1A is willing to reduce regular-season games to increase playoff games, as the other divisions have.  A sixteen-game season would be tough on a college player.

Personally, I would be even happier to go back to the pre-BCS bowl system than I would be to have the facade of a four-team playoff.  A six, eight, or sixteen game playoff would be much more credible to me.

[derspiess]

the pre-BCS bowl system

[Valmy]

I am not sure what "rightful" means here, but you are correct that we disagree.

I only used the word because you did

But yeah we have been back and forth about this for years. 

[Valmy]

the pre-BCS bowl system

What exactly would that mean for the Big 12?  Our champion goes to play in the Orange Bowl, no longer played at the Orange Bowl, or the Cotton Bowl, which is no longer played in the Cotton Bowl?  No thanks.

[MadImmortalMan]

What Big 12?

[Valmy]

What Big 12?

You mean which Big 12?  The one with 10 teams but has 12 in its name, not the one with 12 teams but has 10 in its name.

[grumbler]

What exactly would that mean for the Big 12? 

It would mean that the conference would control which schools went to which bowls, without regard to the national beauty pageant, and then there would be agreement, or not, as to which B12 team, if any, was the mythical national champion.

This is the way Div 1-A football was for about 90 years. 

[stjaba]

The arguments against the home game are pretty amusing, IMO.  They boil down to the claim that the college football playoffs cannot take place in college football stadiums because college football stadiums lack the infrastructure needed to put on college football games. 

I disagree with you. First off, some colleges/towns are more suitable than others. Could Ohio State or Michigan or Florida or USC do it? Probably. But what about TCU or Boise State? Or Kansas State? or WVU? There are plenty of colleges with small stadiums that are completely inadequate for hosting a BCS playoff game. Also, a lot of these colleges are in remote locales without a lot of hotel/motel rooms around. This isn't a problem in the regular season because most of the attendees of games live locally or within a day's driving distance. Since the games are scheduled far in advance, people can arrange accommodations far in advance. It's a completely different story for a BCS play-off game.  You will have a lot of people having to make accommodations quickly, both fans of the other team as well as media. It's going to be a hassle, not to mention expensive to arrange all that when you're dealing with the Gainesvilles, Tallahasees, Auburns, etc. of the world.

On the other hand, I do see merit in home team hosting, primarily out of the maximizing attendance due to convenience to the home fans. Also, it is easy to foresee scenarios where BCS playoff games get crappy attendance due to the neutral site- e.g. Boise State vs. USC in Indianapolis in late December.

I think the ideal plan would somehow maximize attendance while also making sure the games are in appropriate stadiums with appropriate surrounding infrastructure. I think a good compromise would be that each conference has a home, centrally located neutral site that would be used for the number 1 and 2 seeds. The SEC could have Atlanta/Nashville/, Big 10 could have Indianapolis/Detroit, Pac 12 could have LA etc. This would help ensure good attendance(because the sites would be convenient to regional fanbases) while also making sure the stadiums and surrounding infrastructure are appropriate.

[Valmy]

Yeah it would probably work out where K-State would host in Kansas City, WVU would host in Pittsburgh, and TCU would host in Jerry World.  Something like that.  Just because a school is hosting the game does not mean it necessarily has to be their home campus.  But it needs to be where the home school fans have easy access.

[PDH]

Wyoming will host in the...oh wait, that just started off all wrong.